Jaime Emilio Rofina was born on 22 Augustus 1961 at Willemstad, Curacao (the Dutch Antilles). After finishing his secondary school at Radulphus College, he went to the Netherlands to study veterinary medicine at Utrecht University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine which he completed in February 1994.
He worked as a practitioner for four years in several clinics of which the last two years in a veterinary practice in Spijkenisse. At this point he decided that it was time to do something else and he tried his luck at the department of pathology.
During his studies he discovered pathology was his favourite subject and Jaap van Dijk, the head of the department at the time saw his interest and suggested that he could do some training after his studies if he whished to do so. Thus remembering these words Jaime wrote a letter to the department of Veterinary pathology and was invited by Gerry Dorrestein, leading pathologist of the exotic animal division at the time, for a meeting.
This was the beginning of his struggling career at the department of veterinary pathology. He started as an assistant in the necropsy room of the exotic animal pathology division for six months in spring 1999 and continued as a full time (100%) teacher in general pathology and special pathology for second and third year students and MsC-students in September 1999 until September 2000. His contract was prolonged and changed to teacher 75% and researcher 25% for another year which started the base of this thesis. In September 2001 his contract was again prolonged for two years and changed to teacher 60% and researcher 40% and finally in September 2003 he got a permanent position as again teacher 60% and researcher 40% and was officially accepted for a PhD study.
After an effective period of two years of doing research he defended his dissertation entitled Canine counterpart of senile dementia of the Alzheimer type on 1 December 2005.